New York Senator Charles Schumer is calling on the Federal Railroad Administration to conduct an investigation of all of the railroad crossing gates and signals in the Rochester area.
His letter to the FRA Administrator references the fatal accident on Monday, that took the life of a 20 year old North Chili man. Authorities say that Brandon Sauer went around the crossing gates when his car was hit by an Amtrak train.
Schumer says that while in this instance, the crossing gates were functioning properly, there have been reports that crossing gates at that location, as well as gates at other locations around the region, often do not function as designed. The senator says according to those reports, crossing gates often drop down when a train is not approaching, and that conditions drivers to disregard the gates, believing that they are malfunctioning.
Schumer says while there is never any excuse for disregarding railroad crossing signals and gates, the issue of malfunctioning gates needs to be reviewed by the federal agency.
